Dubious goblins dealing in sci-fi allotments

Having previously contributed to the 2021, 2022, and 2023 jams, Alexi is now compelled to continue and submitted entries for both the 2024 and 2025 One-Page RPG Jams.

He never did a blog post for 2024 so is going to talk a bit about both.

2024's theme was TRANSPORT. Alexi's game Dubious Sci-Fi Vehicle Dealers is, as with his other One-Page RPG Jam projects, a role-playing social game more than classic RPG system (so: no dice, stats, GM etc). Players take the roles of dubious sci-fi vehicle dealers, taking it in turns to be a buyer looking for a vehicle for a dubious purpose (with a flimsy cover story). The other players draw stupid vehicles then try and convince the buyer that theirs is the vehicle for them!

2025's theme was GROWTH. Alexi's game Allotment Goblins is, again, dice-less, stat-less, GM-less, this time featuring goblins (or other small creatures), sitting around in their allotments, trying to grow stuff, telling meandering little anecdotes to pass the time. Players give each other seed words, and try and fit those words surreptitiously into little stories fitted within one-minute time limits. Sneak more words in or get more false guesses from the other players? You grow your plants more effectively!

All of Alexi's one-page RPG games are free to download as PDFs (see them all here). If you play them and have any comments, do leave a note on the itch.io pages!

Has Alexi really done nothing since last year? Sort of. He has been dabbling in other media rather than scripting comics. Short stories, DJing, poetry even. What is the world coming to? He does still like comics though. He very much enjoyed Sequential Scotland (where he delivered a workshop) and will probably come back around to more comics sometime soon(ish, maybe).

Caught at the Court

 Having previously contributed to the 2021 and 2022 jams, Alexi now feels he cannot stop, so submitted a little game for One-Page RPG Jam 2023. Court of Whispers is a game of diplomacy and negotiation, themed around being some dreadful nobles, who've done dreadful things, who are trying to discover and reveal each other's dark secrets so they lose face in court, while trying to keep their own misdeeds secret. To be honest, it feels a little unstructured - after the setup, there's a bit of an onus on the players to come up with strategies to negotiate and lie successfully, but if you like that kind of thing, this light TTRPG/social game hopefully provides a fun framework to enjoy stitching up your friends. You can get it, and Alexi's other One-Page RPG Jam entries from alexiconman.itch.io.

The Guide to The Guide

Having previously contributed to the 2021 jam, Alexi decided to take part in One-Page RPG Jam 2022. This time the theme was 'exploration'.

Alexi's entry The Guide is another little narrative game that eschews dice-rolling and stats and focuses on the nuances of presenting information and trying to surreptitiously communicate to certain people without everyone realising what's going on. Download it free from Alexi's itch.io pages.

Guards At The Nexus Of All Worlds

Having dabbled in boardgame design and creating narrative-led puzzles, and having played and enjoyed RPGs, and being fond of a creative challenge with just the right amount of limitations, Alexi decided to take part in One-Page RPG Jam 2021.

The theme of the jam was 'borders', which prompted Alexi to develop a game inspired by Planescape D&D setting, and other settings like this, where worlds are metaphysically connected by portals of some type, allowing travel between very different worlds.

Guards At The Nexus of All Worlds was the result. It plays really quickly, no messing about with stats or a GM, but there is structure to it; in some ways, it's a sort of improv party game (with elements reminiscent of Taboo and Whose Line Is It Anyway?). You can read more about it and download it for free over on Alexi's itch.io page.

There are loads of really interesting little games in the jam, very much having a look through them all.